The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c16.s1.7

v2.c16.s1.7

To give the reader a clear idea of the artistic merits and special features of the architecture of the Deccan it will be best to describe some of the typical monuments of the country. Taking the Buddhist shrines first, which are the oldest chronologically, it may be observed that the stūpas were perhaps the most sacred, each having been raised on a relic of the mortal remains of the Buddha. Originally the form of the stūpa as a burial-mound seems to have been adopted from the hemispherical tumuli of the Scythians,¹ or from the megalithic tombs (cairns) of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Deccan and South India, for such tombs are found in great abundance there. Be this as it may, it is a fact that by the third century B.C., i.e. during the life-time of Aśoka, the stūpa had assumed a definite form, i.e. a round base, rising perpendicularly up to a certain height, a dome-shaped structure resting upon this and being itself surmounted by a casket-shaped apex which ultimately was crowned with an umbrella, the emblem of both religious and secular dignity. Round the base of the structure was arranged a path for circumambulation, which was enclosed outwardly by a railing with gateways facing the cardinal points. The Āndhra-deśa, or the country adjoining the deltas of the rivers Kṛishṇā and Godāvarī, was a great stronghold of the Buddhist religion from the third century B.C. down to the sixth or seventh century A.D., and remains of several hundred stūpas have been traced in this part of the country, the latest discoveries having been made at Nāgārjunakoṇḍa on the southern bank of the Kṛishṇā, in the present Guntur district of the Madras Presidency.